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G. W. HENDRIGK. Striking Mechanism for Clocks.

No. 228,895. Patented Jun 15,1880.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE WV. HENDRICK, OF FORESTVILLE, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO E. N. XVELCH MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

STRIKING MECHANISM FOR CLOCKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 228,895, dated June 15, 1880.

Application filed March 13, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE WV. HENDRIGK, of Forestville, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Striking Mechanisms for Clocks, of which thefollowin g is a specification.

The object of my invention is to produce a clock which shall always strike the proper hour, as indicated by the pointers, no matter how the pointers may be manipulated by turning them forward or backward, at anytime, without waiting for the clock to finish striking, even if the pointers are turned while the clock is striking. I attain this object by the employment of the ordinary rack-and-snail strike, but slightly modified in form, and provided with cam-springs at the different points of contact, as hereinafter fully described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure .1. represents a front elevation of a clock-movement which embodies my invention. Fig. 2 represents a top View of one of the dial-wheels, the snail, and the drop-lever, with the double beveled cam spring resting upon the snail. Fig. 3 represents a side elevation of the same. Fig. 4 represents a side elevation of the liftlever, its cam-spring, and the dial-wheel, which carries the trip-pin. Fig. 5 represents a front elevation of the lift-lever, and Fig. 6 represents a front elevation of its cam-spring as detached from said lever.

A designates the snail, rigidly secured in any proper manner to the socket which carries the hour-hand. It is represented in Fig. 1, in connection with the other parts, in the position in which it is when the clock is ready to strike twelve.

B designates the rack, which is held in an elevated position by means of the stop-lever C.

D designates thelift-lever, having a cam spring or latch, a, at the end of one of its arms, and also provided with a pin, b, upon which the stop-lever C rests. The cam-spring a in the lever D engages with the usual trip-pin d, Fig. 4, mounted upon a wheel of the dial-shaft. Said wheel is also provided with a secondary pin, 0, for tripping the parts to strike the halfhour; but this pin may be omitted or not, as may be desired.

E designates the drop-lever, which is rigidly secured to the rack B, so as to oscillate with it. This drop-lever is provided with a double-beveled cam -spring, j, which comes in contact with the edge of the snail.

The parts so far described are all of them old, with the exception of the cam-springs on the respeetivelevers and that the radial shoulders of the snail are beveled. WVhe-n the snail is turned in a forward direction its only shoulder is that between the steps for striking the hours of twelve and one, and this shoulder is beveled to correspond with the bevel upon one side of the spring-cam f. and comes in contact with said spring-cam only when the clock is turned forward while it is in the act of striking some of the larger hours. If turned but one hour at a time, said shoulder will never come in contact with the spring unless turned while the clock parts are striking twelve. The back sides or shoulders of the snail are beveled in the opposite direction to-correspond with the bevel on the opposite side of the springf. This drop-lever E is forked or slotted near its outer end, and the spring-c-a1n /"is formed of a thin plate of metal secured to the front end of said lever E, and with the end of said plate bent into a V-shaped form and resting within the slot or fork on the end of lever E, the bevels on the respective legs of the V corresponding with those on the shoulders of the snail, as most clearly shown in the top view, Fig. 2. By means of this doublebeveled spring and the corresponding bevels upon the snail, it is evident that the pointers carrying the snail may be turned both forward and backward while the drop-lever is resting upon the edge of the snail, because when either shoulder comes in contact wit-h either side of said double-beveled spring it will readily yield, spring forward, and allow the shoul' der on the snail to pass by it, and, as the clock continues striking, the ordinary mechanism for lifting the rack will also lift this droplever up above the highest projection of the snail.

I have herein represented and described the snail as beveled upon both its forward and backward shoulders, in order to make each step on the edge of the snail correspond to the bevel of the cam-spring which rests thereon,

VIA

and thereby make the division between the hours with greater accuracy; but, if desired, when this double-beveled cam-spring is employed, the steps on the snail could be made square across, and the bevels of the spring alone would be sufficient to thrown it out of engagement with the snail when it was turned either forward or backward but, as before said, for greater accuracy in the division of the hours I prefer to bevel the shoulders on the snail.

I also make the end of the lever D notched or forked, and arrange the beveled cam-spring within said notch, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. This spring. is formed also of a thin plate of metal secured to the back side of lever D, with the outer end bent forward and projecting through the slot, so as to form a cam when the lift-pin d is turned in one direction and an abrupt shoulder when the lift-pin d approaches itfrom theopposite direction. The beveled side of this spring is so placed in connection with the wheel carrying the lift-pin cl that the pin comes upon the cam or inclined side of said spring when the pointers are turned backward, whereby the pin merely depresses the camspring out of the way, and is allowed to pass by without changing the operation of the striking parts. When the pin approaches this cam-spring from the opposite direction it engages the abrupt or hooked side thereof and lifts the lift-lever in the usual manner.

From the foregoing it will be seen that when the pointers are once set and fixed in their proper positions with relation to the snail which regulates the count the pointers may be turned indefinitely, either forward or backward, and at any time, without disarranging the striking parts. They do not merely allow the parts to pass by each other without breakage; but as the numbers of hours to be struck are regulated by the steps upon the snail, and as there is no time when the parts are in such a position that the pointers cannot be turned, it follows that the clock will strike the hour indicated by the pointers, and no other. The only exception there is to this rule is when the clock is turned backward with the long pointer between the figures 12 and 11, in which case the clock will not strike the first hour indicated, because not turned far enough back to trip the lift-lever on starting forward before the pointer passes figure 12; but the succeeding hour will be struck correctly; and so, too, in case the long pointer had been turned back ten minutes from striking-time then the clock will strike the first hour which the pointers indicate.

I am aware that in the ordinary strikingclock the trip-pin and its engaging-arm or liftlever have been so arranged that the pointers could be turned backward without breakage of the parts 5 but whenever so turned the mechanism would not strike the hour indicated by the pointers until the same are reset.

I am also aware that a striking-clock having arack-and-snail movement has been shown and described in a prior patent with the trippin removed from the dial-shaft to another point of the clock, for the alleged purpose of turning the pointers backward without disarranging the striking parts.

These prior devices I hereby disclaim.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination of a rack-and-snail striking mechanism with the double-beveled spring for the drop-lever and the cam and spring connection between the lifting-lever and trip-pin, substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.

In a 'am-andsnail striking mechanism for clocks, the double-beveled spring 1, secured to the drop-lever E, in combination with the snail A, substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.

3. The snail A, having both its forward and backward steps beveled on their radial shoulders, in combination with the drop-lever and its double-beveled cam-spring and the remaining parts of a rack-and-snail striking mechanism, substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.

at. The combination of the lift-lever 1), provided with the cam-sprin g a and trip'pin d, for engagement therewith, and the remaining parts of a rack-and-snail striking mechanism, substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.

GEORGE W. HENDRIOK. Vitnesses:

WM. R. Hum), RoB'r. D. DRUMMOND. 

